I finally finished my first real monument. Repurposed the obelisk as Battlegrounds Tower, a beacon for safe haven to the supernatural. It’s not necessarily a complex design, but sometimes there’s beauty to be found in simple geometry.

The construction process was fairly straightforward. Used the same strategy for most of the other buildings I’d architected in the town, covering it up and finishing it in the dark. I finished it before sunrise, and the total time I actually spent erecting it must have been less than a minute. But, the finished product was pretty decent. Caught the attention of a few reporters, news stations, and internet sleuths at the very least.

The interior is empty at the moment, and it doesn’t do much other than serve as a keystone for one of my spatial pieces. I still have the plans and blueprints to make it into the wizard’s tower I was going to shape it into to match the town’s development…

But at this point, I think it’ll stay hollow.

I can still recall the searing warmth of that stage, the world collapsing into ashes and flames as I got down on my knees. Her voice ringing throughout, performing a melody that defied the will of gods. The deliberate force behind every fold of the paper in my hands, persisting in the face of total annihilation.

I remember that burning sensation, the passion that kept me alive in that moment. It wasn’t the first time I had felt that fire. Its warmth coursed through my blood during the winter, when I slept in back alleyways with only it as my sole source of heat. I remember when its embers were first lit, back when I decided to pour my entire being into the pursuit of creation. It’s what fueled me to embark further on this journey, and prove myself in these cosmic trials of life and death.

It echoes in my memories. My mind won’t forget it, even if I were to want it to. I lost that ability a long time ago.

But I’m not sure if I can feel it anymore.

—

Well, it took a little over a year, but I finally reached the ‘Defeat God’ section of this progression RPG tale.

Technically, it’s more like I managed to foil their plans, rather than fight them outright. And it wasn’t just me there. That’s a little presumptuous, even by my standards. And technically, they were more like a deity of the moon, rather than some all powerful omnipotent entity? I’ve brushed up more on my knowledge of pantheons, cosmological forces, and everything in between since this incident, so I could dive deeper into all of the specifics and nuances that come with this topic… But to be completely real, these complexities have become elementary for me at this point, and either way, it’s not what I’m here to review.

I’ll start at the very beginning. The robot girl from my previous job contacted me about fighting god a while back. Apparently, her group was doing a bounty for OWL when they decided to pass around my fractal paper to peer into the past, leading them to discover a plot to awaken a sealed god of some kind… as well as causing one of them to get marked by said god. Not my fault that they were irresponsible when folding the fabric of time and space itself and ended up annoying some slumbering eldritch divinity in the process. That’s like trying to blame your car manufacturer when you were the one to crash into Cthulhu!

Regardless, after some careful consideration, I decided to be generous and lend them my help. The Kahn is what they all refer to themselves as… or at least, what Kanni calls it. She’s interesting. Tough and cool, sure, but a bit too direct at times, and less serious than I would’ve expected. Frank and Fred were the other two in her group. That Frank guy is pretty odd… Rather cowardly and pathetic for someone who’s supposedly a hard-boiled detective, but it seems like he has the senses and skills to back it up. Fred was… literally a serial killer, necromancer, and living slasher villain. Somehow, he was also the most normal in the group. Played multi-arm eight player Smash Brothers while we were passing time at some point. I beat him, of course, but I also have to give some respect to his competence.

As far as Contractor guilds I’ve worked with, they weren’t the most organized or ambitious I’ve met. A far cry from the operations of the Firm, but they do seem to be much closer. More like friends than just co-workers. Honestly, it made me reminiscent of my time working for the Farm… Hard to believe that life was only a year ago now. Back then, I was still dead broke, working on my first invention, and not even an adult yet. Now… well, here we are, striking deals with androids and necromancers to help them take down god.

Okay, so I wasn’t helping them purely because of the goodness of my own heart. That’s just business, what can I say? They offered proper compensation for my time anyway, so I’m sure I’ll get my money’s worth from all of this… Soon…. Eventually… Now that I think about it, doesn’t Frank still owe Kanni millions himself? Maybe I’ll need to follow up on my payment earlier than I thought I’d have to…

As it turns out, despite the fact that I was brought in as external counsel to help with this situation, I had to do all of the planning and heavy lifting. Well, that scientist Kanni brought midway through also contributed decently, but that was only after we did most of the poking and prodding. It honestly wasn’t much— we attached some cameras to the spiderlings (officially the God-Maledicted, due to also being cursed by this thing) that went out to curse others and reviewed the footage of where this thing was sealed over some Chinese takeout. Kanni insisted on flavoring it with oil, which was an odd choice… I tried it to honor the neckerchief Bu Fang traded me, but I can’t see the appeal as a human.

After surmising that it was probably a bad idea to just blow it all up, we sent Kanni to steal a bunch of data from the research premises on site. It was decently interesting, if not time consuming, to review all of the information they had gathered about how they worked… But what was most useful was the contact information of the professional they had been working with. Mr. Anthem Junior, a fellow connoisseur of supernatural artifacts as well as a descendant and active practitioner of a lineage of occult binders. Filthy rich, even by my standards, but I’d say we got along swimmingly.

With his aid, we actually established a way to disrupt the ritual awakening this god… at risk of at least one of us being stuck in it for the rest of eternity if we failed, but I’ve dealt with worse consequences before. All we had to do was change the events of its victim’s day so that they’d finally receive a happy ending, since they had apparently been suffering through it over, and over, and over, and over…

I signed up to defeat a god, so dealing with the ravaging, cold, and unrelenting forces of time was really just another obstacle in the way.

We entered the ritual space through these strange coffins and robes, bringing us back to roughly the same area during the 1800’s. Apparently, nobody else was competent when it came to gathering information, either, so I led those efforts as well. Some talking and schmoozing led to the discovery of an opera being held in town, and one of the singers going missing before she was supposed to perform. Story was that she eloped to another island to be with                  . Reality was distorting the more we pursued this lead, so I figured it was the right path.

When we arrived at their location— dealing with a lot of time manipulation and spatial nonsense during the way— we found the girl and the entity responsible for all of this together. They were attempting to push her into abandoning the opera, forcing her to perform only for them in some twisted delusion of love and passion…

I rejected this notion. Art isn’t to exist for the sole purpose of entertaining some other being. I had abandoned the pursuit of art once before to satisfy the expectations and responsibilities of the world around me. I refused to let that happen again.

In the end, she chose to return with us and perform at her stage. Even as that entity manipulated her, altered time and space, and abandoned it all when they realized they wouldn’t have their way…

Our voices joined hers as she sang in the fire. With the paper in my hands, I carefully folded the shape of our requiem in my hands— 追悼.

When we returned to our reality, that shape remained in my hands when I emerged from that coffin.

—

I wrote this journal to see if doing so would be any different from replaying it all in my mind. If that spark would return to me as I put my experience into words on paper.

…I don’t believe it did, but it’s not like I expected it to. Writing was never really my primary craft, anyway. There’s only one more thing left for me to do to see if it’s still there.

Been a good month since that last big job. Kept myself busy, ya know? Can't let the beast get lazy, even when things are quiet.

Boxing's been my sanctuary, as always. Stepped back into the ring like greeting an old friend. There's a comfort in the familiar rhythm of jabs, hooks, and footwork. World-class skills don't fade, but they do need maintainin'. It's more than just exercise for me – it's meditation, a way to keep my mind sharp and my instincts honed. The beast might be quiet, but the boxer in me never sleeps.

Been runnin' too – miles and miles through the city streets; I already have to take Tao Tao out before she gets antsy, chews on my couch or relieves herself in some carpet, so I take the chance and put her through the paces. Between the ring and the road, I'm keepin' this body of mine in peak condition. Never know when I'll need to call on every ounce of strength and skill. But the real interestin' part? My hearin's gone through the roof. I mean, it was always good, but now? It's like I can hear a pin drop in the next borough. Been practicin' in the dark, navigatin' by sound alone. Comes in handy in my line of work, that's for sure.

In more homely news, Rachel's been a sweetheart, bringin' home those seasonal drinks from the café. We've been enjoyin' the last bits of winter – me, her, and Nadia. It's nice, ya know? Just sittin' there, sippin' our drinks, watchin' the world go by. Makes me feel almost normal. Spring's comin' soon, though. Construction season'll be pickin' up, and I'll be back to juggling the day job with the night work. But that's alright. Keeps me busy, keeps me focused.

Heaven's Hands is almost ready to open its doors. Nadia's gonna be runnin' the show there, helpin' women and kids who need it. She's got a real callin' for it. Makes me proud to see her step up like that. All in all, life's good right now. Got my girls, got my work, got my purpose. The beast is quiet, but ready. And me? I'm enjoyin' this little slice of peace while it lasts. In my line of work, you never know when the next storm's gonna hit. But for now? I'm gonna enjoy this calm. It's a wonderful time for me and mine, and I ain't takin' a single moment for granted.

I've been on a handful of jobs now and haven't seen any sign of my family. I'm not sure who is sending me these cryptic messages or carrying on their legacy but I would very much like that to stop. Additionally I know that other groups of up and coming cultists are happening all over the country and apparently no one is doing anything about that. I think I'm going to change that. 

I'll start with my problems first and then see if I can cover my tracks. I'll also need to pick a target that seems doable with just me working against it. Nothing too big to start, I need to make sure my plans work and that I can deprogram the people afterwards. It's not enough to just cut off the head I need to make sure these fragile suggestable people don't do anything stupid in the aftermath.